Customer Reviews

Glory Road

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A great many reviewers here, and many other people who have talked about or reviewed this book, are disturbed or unsatisfied by the ending. However, the ending is what Heinlein was trying to do.

The adventure and romance that makes up the first part of the book is interesting and exciting. There are some very good action scenes, something Heinlein does well but not as often as some others. There are plenty of hints at sex. The characters grew on me. This isn't, as someone suggested, a parody of a fantasy/sword & sorcery novel. Heinlein is respectful of the material. The resemblance to his friend Poul Anderson's Three Hearts & Three Lions is deliberate. However, he is using the sword and sorcery novel and all its tropes to reach his central question, not just for its own sake.

The question the book asks is "what do you do after you've slain the dragon?" and that question is central to the book. I'm not saying that Oscar answers the question very well, even for himself. I'm sure that he doesn't answer it for every dragon-slayer who will come along. But Heinlein, opinionated as he often is, usually leaves us with questions unanswered and things we have to think about. Which is good.

I gave it only four stars because Heinlein wrote better novels than this one. But 4.5 would have been more appropriate.

This was one of the first fantasy novels I read as I migrated from science fiction to fantasy, and I couldn't have asked for a better transitional book to show how fun and creative the genre can be.
Heinlein tells a simply "on the road" story and a "coming of age" story at the same time, using an adult -- unusually -- instead of the typical teenage boy. The book felt like it was dashed off in a hurry - not because it was sloppy, but because it seems to move and flow so seamlessly from adventure to adventure. I can imagine Heinlein just had a bunch of fun whacking this story out!
Glory Road is 40 years old, but manages to avoid feeling dated, and that's a big accomplishment all by itself. It's a thoroughly enjoyable, easy read book.

'Glory Road' is Robert Heinlein's take on Fantasy. Being Heinlein, the fantasy elements have scientific explanations, but are fantasy nonetheless. In 'Glory Road' Heinlein is commenting on heroes and fantasy conventions, as well as adding commentary on social and political mores of late '50s early 60's America in the usual Heinlein manner.
I have enjoyed several of Heinlein's works but I did not care for this one too much. I found the dialogue to be excruciatingly bad, and the plot to have absolutely no tension or drama. Even the usual pontificating, which normally doesn't bother me too much, just grated, even when I agreed. I guess I can see what Heinlein was doing here but I didn't enjoy the result.

I listened to this on my ride back to Utah from ND and I could not have enjoyed it more.
This was more in the lines of epic fantasy in one volume than the sci-fi you may have come to think, when you think RAH. But it does not suffer as a result.
I thought the story was fun and kept moving - maybe the ending went on a bit, I "got it" long before it was hammered home, I can see how some might not have, so RAH let it go on a bit to be sure that most did.
Still this is WELL worth the read. I would even suggest this for fans of other fantasy authors.
David Eddings, Tolkien, Terry Brooks, etc... This had that kind of feel, but was conceived in the 1950's.

How do you describe the best time of your life? That's what Glory Road does for me every time I reread what I consider Robert Heinlein's best book. If I'm in the doldrums, this is the book I go to make me feel better. Maybe it's that peek at life in America in the early to mid-60's but from a very different aspect than Don Draper's Mad Men? But no, this doesn't give you a "How Green Were My Pasture's" kind of look. Quite the opposite for you see the seeds of why we're in the pickle we're in 50 years later. Heinlein could see it very clearly and he cleverly mixes it in with the best darn fantasy.

I heartily recommend the book. Buy several copies because you're going to want to loan it out to people and people being people, they won't want to give it back.

For they will have fallen in love with it, too.


Susan Smith

This book precedes the Heinlein books that became preachy and long-winded; Heinlein became too big to edit eventually. Many reviewers class this as fantasy or "sword and sorcery", which I feel is a mistake. The story line includes the necessary hand-waving to explain why swords are used in some places and more hard-science weapons (lasers etc) in others. The travel mechanism is no more a fantasy mechanism than worm holes or other hard science standbys. It has plenty of the interesting concepts that marked Heinlein's best work and the best of science fiction in general. It also has some great character development and plot twists. It would make a good framework for a television series (a la Doctor Who) or a film series. The "quest" plot line could be extended to cultures and worlds that Heinlein did not use. I reread it occasionally and I'm amazed that it stands up so well to current science fiction. I am surprised that this story hasn't already been optioned for production.

I'm a big Heinlein fan and when I tried re-reading my (nearly) 40 year old paperback copy of Glory Road it fell to pieces (or pages) in my hand. Thank God it is still in publication so I can re-read it and continue to enjoy it for another 40 years.

First read this book in college in the 60's. Reread many times over the years and enjoyed it every time. Great adventure! Great story! Great characters! Wonderful author!

Still original (to me) for its age and a good easy read, until the last 5 chapters, when it changes from a fantasy to marriage guidance, taxes and tips on horse betting (at least I learnt what a sweepstake is).

He didn't need to stop at chapter 18, but could have jumped straight to the part where the married couple split and go their own way, without going into detail about why the marriage fell apart.

Les.

"Glory Road" is a very good fantasy story. I enjoyed it as a young adult and still enjoy it when I pick it up over forty years later. Very simply, this is a story about a soldier, coming back to the USA, who gets sidetracked by a beautiful young woman, who turns out to be the 'leader' of a multi-universe 'empire' of tens or hundreds of billions of humans.

The nice thing about fantasy is that it does not get as out-dated as science fiction can get and it can stretch the mind. In this case, quite a few interesting and adventurous things happen. I will say that this book is probably too sophisticated for anyone younger than, about, 16 to 17 years old. Also, I doubt if a reader who is new to Heinlein would appreciate this book. If you are new to Heinlein, "Space Cadet" is a much better place to start. " 'Waldo' & 'Magic, Inc.'" is another very good Heinlein book of two fantasy novellas.